The New Arrival
by LittleMewLugia
Summary: When another Autobot arrives in response to Optimus Prime's broadcast, chaos ensues, because SHE is the first femme 'bot the others have seen for centuries. This is a followon to Two Sisters, Three Choices, but is set several thousand years later.
1. Chapter 1

The New Arrival.

SUMMARY: Another Autobot arrives in response to Optimus Prime's call. Unable to announce it's arrival due to damaged comm equipment, it turns up at their temporary base. This one's arrival causes a stir, however for _she_ is the first femme bot any of them have seen for centuries!

SETTING: Movieverse

CHARACTERS: The four surviving Movie Autobots, plus Rian (OC), Mirage, and Cliffjumper. Fiona and Shaun Raven (human OC'S). Jazz, Prowl, Hound and Sunblazer get a mention.

PAIRINGS: None (Although Mirage et al get their hopes up!)

DISCLAIMER: Transformers belongs to Hasbro and Dreamworks. I make no claim on them, or any of their created characters, nor do I make any profit from this or them. Rian, Sunblazer, Fiona Raven, and Shaun Raven, however, belong to me.

A/N: If anyone thinks I've really misrepresented the characters here, particularly Ironhide, then I apologize, but the situation is unusual, and may cloud the 'bot's judgements temporarily. Also, they do come to their senses, as you will see. Also, you should understand that in human terms, Rian is the equivalent of seventeen. Old enough to understand certain issues, young enough to get scared.

The New Arrival.

It was amazing, how far my communications equipment could scan.

Having detected and homed in on Optimus's signal, I was now analysing the Earth's "internet." I had already learned all the languages I needed-about fifteen-to be able to run through every news story I could find about the big battle between giant robots that had occurred on the planet I was now headed for. From these, I worked out that the Autobots had won,-but had lost Jazz-and all but two of the Decepticons had been killed. It was something of a pyrrhic victory, however, for the AllSpark had been lost to us forever, destroyed at the same time.

Unless the half-whispered rumours were true, about mech and femme being able to temporarily combine Sparks in order to create a new one, as a race we faced extinction.

If the rumours were true, I may have become a valuable commodity to both factions. I would have to hope I did not run into either of the two surviving Decepticons remaining on Earth. Or any that may have arrived since.

I only encountered problems as I tried to move between the fifth and fourth planets of the system, (Optimus's signal originated on one of the landmasses of the third). There was a major collection of rocky space debris, and my protoform took a major battering. Although it was designed to protect my delicate instrumentation and fine mechanics from the hazards of space and of landing, it had not been designed to cope with this volume of space detritus. My navigations and telemetry, and my communications network both took enough hits to go offline. I would have time to effect auto-repairs on only one of them, and at the moment, navigation was my most urgent need. Turning off the auto repair on the comms equipment, I worked on repairing the nav equipment, relying on other sensors to gauge my distance from the red planet that was fourth from this solar system's sun.

I did not want to fall into it's gravity well. The long space journey had taken its toll, my resources were depleted, and I only had enough energy reserves to make one landing, and then move about the planet. If I landed on the red planet, it would be a very long time before I could convert enough of its mass to attempt to take off again.

I managed to keep clear of the red planet, and got enough of my main navigational array working to make sure I landed on the correct landmass of the third planet. When I landed, it was with a resounding thud, and once I had cooled enough from the friction created by atmospheric entry from space, I unfolded from my protective cometary configuration back into my robotic form.

Unfortunately, the navigational fine tuning had still been offline upon entry, and I was aware that I had landed quite a distance from where I remembered Optimus's signal coming from. Oh well, at least I wasn't in the sea, or on the wrong continent. Crouching in case any natives were observing, I listened for the sound of vehicular activity. Earlier scans from the edge of the solar system had revealed non-sentient vehicle forms to be commonplace on this world.

My audio receivers picked up a constant stream of engine noise so, still crouching, I made my way towards the source of the noise. It was a stretch of man-made substance, and the vehicular forms travelled atop it.

Staying in a crouch, I watched for some time, looking for a vehicle common enough to pass unnoticed and of the right size to accommodate my form. I soon picked out a vehicle whose colour and make were common enough, and its size was appropriate.

A few minutes later, a red Nissan Micra slipped, almost unnoticed, into the traffic stream.

As I drove along, tailing another vehicle heading in the general direction of the signal, I re-activated the auto-repair on my communications, and tested it to see what I had left.

It was pretty bad. My receiving equipment was patchy, and all my sending equipment would need more than auto-repair to fix. I recalled from the newsreels that Ratchet was on Earth and had survived. Hopefully, he could fix my damaged communications array. Upon testing my receiving equipment again, I did find that I could access some Earth communications systems-mainly the Internet.

Slowing down outside a residential area, I tapped into a "wireless broadband" signal originating from one of the nearest buildings. Once I had access to the Internet, I fashioned my own, faster communications bridge, and scoured all entries containing the word "Autobot". Conducting a search with this word led me to many entries, but one, on a site called LiveJournal, drew my eye. It was a written piece by one particular LiveJournal user, called FionaR74.

"I'm sure most of you are aware of the big robot battle that occurred a few weeks ago-if not, then where were you? It occurred between two factions, the Autobots and the Decepticons. It was the Autobots who won-which was good for us humans- and their leader, Optimus Prime, sent out a call to other Autobots to join him.

Well, I can't say much more because it's classified, but let's just say that the Autobot liaison, whom I happen to know, is going to have his work cut out for him. Two more Autobots-called Mirage and Prowl-have landed, and they have said they know of at _least_ two more who are on their way."

This was of interest to me, as the user had suggested she was in contact with somebody who was officially in contact with my Autobot comrades. In fact, based on the casual way she was bouncing certain names and terms around, I would be very surprised if she were not in contact with them herself.

I searched her profile to find some clue to her location, and was alarmed at how easy it was. There in her profile was her name and address. I memorised it and then deleted it. If I could find it so easily, so could the Decepticons. Without knowing it, by making that information public, she had just put her entire family at risk.

I got one more thing from the Internet-a map to FionaR74's house, and then disengaged from the Internet. I pulled out, and followed the map towards the location of this LiveJournal user.

Now I had a solid destination in mind, I didn't waste any time in getting there. It was a long trip-three Earth days.

As I pulled into FionaR74's street, it was still light. I needed to work out how to contact the LiveJournal user. While it was still light, converting to robot form and tapping on all the house windows till I found her was out of the question. Maybe her family knew about Autobots and would not be scared, but the same could not necessarily be said for her neighbours. However, I had to contact her.

I eventually decided to contact her via her latest LiveJournal entry. I would have to hope she didn't think it was somebody playing a prank on her.

I logged onto LiveJournal, and easily hacked through it's primitive defences to create myself a LiveJournal account-"Rianbot4"-and went to her journal. I added her as a friend, hacked into her account to add myself as a friend to hers, and composed a reply.

"FionaR74, leaving your address public on LiveJournal was foolish. Using that information, any Decepticon could find you. For that reason, I have deleted this information from your journal for your own safety. My name is Rian. I am an Autobot, and would like you to introduce me to your official liaison friend. I am the red Nissan Micra outside your house. If you look out of a window facing onto the street, you will see me there." I marked it as "friends-only view" and sent it.

Then there was nothing to do but wait.

I didn't get any response from her on her LiveJournal page, although my constant monitoring of it did register her logging on, accessing the entry, and then logging off. A curtain in a window was pulled aside, and a small pale face peered out. I flashed my headlights in response.

A few minutes later, a human with pale brown shoulder-length hair, a thin build, and a pale complexion opened the front door and peered out. After scanning the street with her eyes, she let herself out of the door.

"Alright, if there's anyone there, you can come out, because I've not fallen for your trick." she said. I was disappointed. It was as I had feared. She thought somebody was messing about. It was getting dark by now, but not dark enough to risk converting into robot form in a residential street. I flashed my headlights at her again.

The girl approached me, walking around me to check nobody was hiding behind me, and peering in my windows to make sure nobody was hiding inside. She muttered "If I hear sniggering in a moment, I will find some way to make them pay." Then she bent down, putting her hand gently on my hood, and whispered "Rian? Are you Rian?"

"Yes, I am Rian." I said back in an equally quiet voice. "Please let me speak to your liaison friend. I can drive you there if you like." I popped open the passenger door, which was the side she was on. "Come on in, my sensors suggest that the ambient temperature out there is dropping."

She didn't get in, although she stuck her head in for a good look around, possibly still thinking there was somebody in there playing a joke on her. She noted the discreet Autobot logo on the dash, walked around again, this time noticing the less discreet Autobot logo on my hood.

"Oh my, this is for real, this isn't a prank, is it?" she whispered, more to herself than to me. "Um-My name's Fiona. Wait here Rian." she said in a slightly louder voice. I was pleased with her manners, that she addressed me by name. She ran up the drive to her house. Sticking her head in the door, she yelled "_**DAD**_!"

"_**WHAT**_?" was the answering bellow from inside the house.

"_**WORK!**_" she shouted back. "_**A RED NISSAN MICRA THAT'S MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE!**_"

This obviously meant something to the male human, for I heard sounds that suggested somebody had just got up from a chair very fast. A man joined Fiona at the door, and she pointed at me. He bent down to whisper in her ear, something I probably wasn't meant to hear, but as my audio pickups were at maximum I heard what he said anyway.

"Which faction, Fiona? Did you see any logos? Shapes? Colours? Tell me!" Fiona rolled her eyes.

"Dad, it has a very obvious Autobot logo right there on the end of the hood. Had it been a Decepticon logo, I would have come in, bolted the door, and _then_ told you!" She gave an exasperated snort. "I'm not _that_ thick, you know!"

"Okay, Fiona, I'm sorry, that wasn't what I was suggesting. I was just worried. I didn't know that you could tell one symbol from the other. After all, I'm just your father and this is just my work!" Fiona rolled her eyes again.

"Dad, you're the official liaison for giant robots from outer space! That is just _cool! _Of course I'm going to take an interest! It's also a really good survival tactic to know which side they are on just in case you _do_ run into one. So I memorised what you were told on that sheet of paper you had upstairs." She recited from memory. "'Red optics is always a good indicator of a hostile robot. Don't only trust the optic colour however, the enemy robot Frenzy's optics were blue-look for the logo. Symbol colour can vary, but the Autobot logo has often been red, the Decepticons favour a purple logo. The important thing to check is; which of the shapes displayed below does it resemble?' And I memorised them Dad, and that car is definitely displaying the Autobot logo."

Her father nodded, but by now his attention was focused on me. He walked towards me with his hands out, fingers splayed, palms-out.

"Hello Autobot Rian. Welcome to Earth. I am Shaun Raven, the official Autobot-human liaison officer. The other Autobots have been loaned a hangar by the Army as a sort of base. Would you like me to take you there?"

"Yes please." I said, flicking open all the doors so he could choose which seat to sit in.

He immediately took the driver's seat. I didn't say anything, after all I could have kept the driver's door shut, but I did hope he wasn't expecting to do the driving. If he tried I would have to tell him to leave off. I did _not_ like being not in control of my own body in either robot or car form.

Fiona took the opportunity to slide into my passenger seat. "I'm coming too, Dad!" she said. "After all, it was _me_ she made contact with!" Her father looked as if he were about to argue with her, but then noticed the mulish expression on his daughter's face, and thought better of it. He sighed.

"That she did. I would prefer that I kept my family separate from my work, at some point it's bound to get dangerous, but I guess this should be a straightforward mission, just like the others. This time you can come. Perhaps Sam and Mikaela will be there." As they put on their seat belts, I started the engine. Shaun put both of his hands on my steering wheel.

"I'm sorry to butt in here, but I'll be doing the driving if you don't mind." I said. "This is my body, and how would you like somebody else controlling your movements?"

"That's fine, but I have to at least _look_ like I'm driving you." said Shaun. "If I just signal you which way to turn by a very small tug on the steering wheel in the right direction, is that okay?"

"That's fine." I said, and we started off.

"Who's arrived then?" I asked Shaun.

"The leader, Optimus Prime, the medic Ratchet, the weapons specialist Ironhide, the scout Bumblebee, the covert specialist Mirage, another scout called Cliffjumper, the law enforcement 'bot Prowl, the holographic specialist Hound, and oh yes, they've managed to revive First Lieutenant Jazz!"

"Jazz is alive? I heard Megatron ripped him in half. Must have ruptured his Spark chamber for it to kill him, and that always causes Spark-death. Spark-death can't be reversed."

"It looks like the act of ripping him in half sealed off part of his Spark chamber with distorted plating." Shaun explained. "His Spark was discovered, only barely alight, in the top right hand side of his casing. It was touch and go, but that medic knew what he was doing and managed to pull it off. He's alive, and from what Optimus Prime says, his brush with death hasn't tempered his actions with caution one bit!"

"Jazz is very brave." I said. "I served in his unit once. Jazz, Leader Prime, Bumblebee and Ratchet I know, but I've never met Ironhide, Prowl, Mirage, Hound, or Cliffjumper. They must have all been in a different unit-I know that the Autobot forces were split into different units going different ways to increase the chances that one or more of us would make it. I don't suppose there's another one called Sunblazer, by any chance?" I asked. I had received no news of my sibling since we had become separated.

"I'm afraid not." said Shaun. "I would have remembered that name, I know all the Autobots who have arrived so far."

By this time, we had reached the Autobot base, which was separate from the nearby Army base, with a ten-foot wall surrounding it and a big meshed gate. Shaun took out a swipe card and swiped it through the lock. The doors opened, and I drove us in.

We stopped in the middle of the parking and turning area, and Fiona and her father got out.

"Come on, Fiona, I'll go and tell Optimus Prime that Rian is here and I suppose you'd better come too. If you're going to insist on getting involved, he should meet you properly. If things get dangerous, I want him to know that you are priority one for protection before me." Fiona looked excited. Shaun turned to me.

"Wait here, Rian, we'll let them know you're here. The five you don't know might get jumpy if they see you, it's best I ask Optimus to come out and bring you in and introduce you. That's what I had to do with the last four arrivals." he said apologetically.

I transformed into robot form.

"Wow!" breathed Fiona, looking up at me.

"That's okay, I've been waiting for the last several thousand years, ten more of your minutes won't make that much of a difference." I said. I stooped to look at Fiona, who extended a hand. Very carefully, I took her hand between my thumb and one fingertip, and shook it. I had learned about this particular human custom from the Internet. "Pleased to meet you in this form at last, Fiona." I said. They turned and entered the building.

About a minute later, I saw a quartet of other vehicles arrive at the gates. One of them must have sent a signal, for they did not need to use a swipe card, the doors swung open to admit them. There was a black Topkick SUV, a shiny yellow Chevrolet Camaro, a small red car that was about my vehicle size, and a sleek racing car in blue and white. As the gates swung open and I turned to face the vehicles, they got an unobstructed front-on view of me.

The Topkick stalled so abruptly that the red car behind it rammed right into it's rear-end, and I winced at the sound of tormented metal. The blue and white sports car managed to swerve just in time to avoid a two-car pile-up turning into a three-car pile-up. It stopped to my right. The Chevy Camaro seemed to be the only vehicle that was acting anything like normally, stopping just beside the Topkick. A young human boy got out.

The red car managed to disentangle itself from the Topkick, which was making an alarming snarling noise that was nothing to do with its engine. The moment the red car freed itself, the Topkick transformed into a big, heavily armed robot with a gigantic cannon mounted on each arm. I thought it was about to berate the red car, but instead, the heavily-armed mech couldn't take it's optics off _me_.

The red car came around to my left side, and the three remaining in car form all transformed at the same moment.

I only knew the Chevy's robot form. "Bumblebee!" I cried in welcome.

"Rian, you made it too!" he called.

"Hey, you got your voice back!" I said. Bumblebee nodded.

"Hey Rian, meet Ironhide, Cliffjumper and Mirage." he said. As he looked at them, and me, he suddenly sounded puzzled. "What's wrong with them?" he said, suddenly uncertain. "Why are they all staring at you?"

"It-it's a-a femme." the heavily-armed 'bot stammered.

"Tell me I'm not seeing things, Cliffjumper!" whispered the blue and white skinny robot the sports car had become.

"If you are, I'm seeing things too, Mirage." said the red robot the small car had become. "Most welcome and beautiful hallucination I've seen in hundreds of years."

They were all staring at me in a most unsettling way, but none of them were talking to me, and for no reason I could at that point explain, I felt threatened.

"You are _real_, aren't you?" the heavily-armed 'bot asked me-at last speaking _to_ me, although the feeling of being threatened didn't get any less. "Hound, if that's you playing a trick on us, I'll blast you into your component parts!"

"Y-yes, I'm real." I said. As the heavily-armoured robot took a step towards me, reaching out one big black hand towards me, my fear mounted and I took two of my own steps back, raising my own arms in front of me. The skinny blue-and-white robot noticed, and spread his hands in a disarming manner.

"Hey, don't be scared of old Ironhide there, he's not going to hurt you." he said. Ironhide looked at him.

"Less of the 'old' Mirage, I can keep up with any of you younger ones, in _any_ way you see fit to challenge me."

The blue and white barely looked at him before continuing.

"None of us are going to hurt you, lovely. I'm Mirage, that's Cliffjumper, and Ironhide there may have big guns, but don't be scared of that, he sure won't be using them on _you_."

Somehow, this was not at all reassuring, and I took another step back.

"What's wrong with them?" asked Bumblebee. "Have they gone _mad_? I'm sorry, Rian, I don't know what's got into them!"

"I think _I_ do." said Bumblebee's human companion. "Bumblebee, go and get Optimus Prime _pronto_, and tell him to bring the other biggest 'bot there is-I think that's Ratchet, isn't it? I think we're about to end up with a situation here and we need them here _now_!" Bumblebee took one look at the expression on his human companion's face, and headed off into the building that Fiona and her father had headed into. That avenue of escape was denied to me by the skinny form of Mirage, who was right between it and I.

The human boy jumped in front of Ironhide, who was taking another step towards me, shouting "IRONHIDE, _**STOP**_!", but Ironhide seemed hardly to notice him, stepping over him as he advanced closer. This step brought his fingertips way too close to me for comfort, and I felt them brush the surface of my face as I took three more steps backwards.

Mirage suddenly smiled, and faded out. Distracted, I turned to look at the empty space where he had been, wondering if I could now make a break for it to the base and hide somewhere in it. Then I felt fingers gently settle on my lower arm and on my shoulder, gently feeling and slightly stroking the contours of my arm. Mirage reappeared right next to me, it was his hands I felt. I cried out and pulled away, although the part of my mind that was _not_ quickly headed towards panicking realised how he'd got his name.

"Ironhide, Cliffjumper, she _is_ real!" Mirage cried.

"We've saved!" said Ironhide. "We have a new source of Sparklings to keep our race alive! We're not going to die out!"

I took two more steps back, fear heading towards all-out panic. Was this going to be what the rest of my life would be-acting as a substitute for the AllSpark? I could not believe the response I was receiving. These were supposed to be _Autobots_, my comrades in arms, my companions! This sort of reaction I might have expected had I been fool enough to go into a Decepticon stronghold, but from Autobots? No, this amongst those who were supposed to be my comrades I had _not_ expected. I would happily play my part in saving our kind from extinction, but not like _this_! Didn't I get a say on how often, with whom, and when?

"No-please-we're on the same side-we're supposed to be _friends_-_please_!" I managed to stammer out.

Mirage flickered out again, this time reappearing behind me, halting my retreat with gentle but firm hands curling about my shoulders.

"Of course, we're all your friends here!" said Cliffjumper, trying to soothe me with his words, (without success) smiling at me and moving closer. "You have no idea how pleased we are to see you! I guess it's a bit overwhelming, but that's okay, we can take turns. Who do you want to go with first? Who'll be the lucky 'bot to get this world's first Sparkling?"

I could take no more of this, and screamed "**I AM **_**NOT**_** A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE ALLSPARK! GET OFF ME! GET AWAY!**" I lashed out in a panic, catching both Mirage and Cliffjumper with my flailing limbs. Had I had any way and anywhere to run, I would have fled as fast as I could move.

A second later, a deeper voice called out.

"**AUTOBOTS, FALL BACK **_**NOW**_**! WHERE ARE YOUR MANNERS? LEAVE HER **_**ALONE**_**!" **

Every head in the courtyard turned, every optic focused on the source of the last command. At the entrance to the base, behind and to my right, stood our Leader Optimus Prime, Ratchet, and Bumblebee, along with Shaun and Fiona Raven. It was Leader Prime who had spoken, and he looked _furious_. However, he hadn't finished.

"Mirage, take your hands off her, Cliffjumper, silence your vocal projector, and use your processor clusters before you activate it again, Ironhide, remember your role as a protector of the young, and back off! Can't you tell she isn't an adult? All of you, _back off_, she's a sub-adult! She may be a femme, but she's young, and your unseemly behaviour is scaring her. Back off! Give her some space!"

Mirage disappeared again, reappearing several feet away. Cliffjumper looked at Leader Prime, and backed away, and Ironhide managed somehow to look like a guilty Sparkling caught stealing Energon.

Ironhide stepped back, two big steps, and then he was the first of the three suddenly shamefaced mechs to speak.

"He's right, we're scaring her. Look at her, cowering back, and no wonder, with us acting like a bunch of over-energised Decepticons! Shame on us!" He crouched down, which brought his optics to the same level as my own.

"I'm sorry for our lack of manners, but we haven't seen a femme for centuries, It by no means _excuses_ our behaviour, but maybe it will help to _explain_ it." He addressed the others again. "Perhaps Ratchet should do a scan on our processors to see if they are degrading in the personality department, because I'm sure that is what it seemed like to our sister-in-arms there." Once again, he addressed me.

"I'm Ironhide, head weapons specialist, and I am very pleased to meet you, and _not_ just because you're a femme. Will you accept my apology for my regrettable lapse of manners and decorum?"

"And mine." Mirage said, hanging his head. "I used my specialist abilities to invade your space. I'm sorry."

"So am I." said Cliffjumper. "I am known to be rash and impulsive, and reach the wrong conclusions before I think things through, and I was very rude to you. It was just-we'd given all the femmes up for dead, there were so few that we thought they had all died, although we all still held out hope, of course. When we saw you, we thought a wish had come true. Here you were, turning up like a dream, just when we'd decided we Cybertronians were doomed, as a race, to die out."

Leader Prime spoke up again, sounding very solemn.

"If Rian runs out on us-and after the reception you just gave her, I would not be surprised if she did-then that possibility is still very possible." Optimus said.

"We could go after her, and bring her back." Cliffjumper said. "After all, what price the survival of our race? I'm sure she would come to understand."

"No, Cliffjumper!" exclaimed Ironhide. "The moment we do that, what makes us better than the Decepticons, who themselves would justify Sparkrape by saying it was for the survival of our kind? We are Autobots, Cliffjumper, we stand for _freedom_, for _everybody's_ right to freedom, including Rian's here. To go after Rian, to drag her back here and force her to bear Sparklings for us, would abrogate her rights in that way, and then how could we claim to stand for freedom, when we would be denying that right to a very valuable member of our team?" Ironhide moved to one side, which left me, if I wanted, a clear dash to the still-open gates to the base.

"You are very welcome, Autobot soldier Rian, to stay here, but I am sure we would all understand if out actions and words make you wish to leave us." He sighed, looking down at his feet.

I looked at the others.

Mirage, too, could not bear to look me in the optics, and he looked totally Sparksick. Cliffjumper was cringing, would have been in tears if he could weep like an organic, and was unable to take his optics off me, as if scared I would vanish into thin air. My panic subsided, replaced by sorrow as I realised that from their point of view, they had been given a chance, and had probably completely blown it. How could I leave them feeling like that? Well, of course, I couldn't.

I moved first to Mirage, giving his lower arm a friendly clasp. As he looked up, I moved to Cliffjumper, giving his shoulder a gentle touch. He looked up, in wonder and some sort of relief, as I moved away to face Ironhide. To touch this experienced veteran would have seemed somehow patronising. So instead of reaching out a hand to him, I saluted smartly.

"Autobot Rian reporting for duty, Sir." I said. "I understand, that as an Autobot and a Cybertronian, I am expected to do my duty, but I respectfully request that my duty to my race be carried out at my pace, when I choose, and with whom I choose. This does not mean any of you will be left out, but the choice of who and when and how often must be mine, or I fear my emotional response to having my choice vetoed may lose me to you all. At the moment, the time is just not right." I looked up at first Mirage, then Cliffjumper, and then Ironhide, who were all regarding me with anxious looks in their optics.

"Gentlemen, I accept your apologies. Thank you. I have been travelling through space a long time, and an opportunity to recharge would be most welcome at the moment. If someone could show me to somewhere where I could absorb light or fuel to convert to energy, I would be most grateful." I said.

"We can do better than that!" Bumblebee said enthusiastically. "We have been able to build recharging chambers! Come, I will take you!"

I followed my old friend, the eager scout Bumblebee, into the base, and as he had promised, there were recharging chambers there-something I had not seen since the early days of the Autobot-Decepticon conflict.

"Wow, you know how to make a 'bot feel better!" I said, clasping Bumblebee's arm. Leader Prime had followed us in.

"Autobot Rian, you have the freedom we respect so highly to do your duty as a Cybertronian as and when you feel comfortable to." he said. "We thank you for recognising and accepting this duty, which is a great and weighty one to lay on such young shoulders. However, I must ask that after your recharge, you discharge your duty as an Autobot at 0900 hours tomorrow, by which time a full recharge should have taken place. Please report to my office at that time for a full debriefing and I will fill you in on the situation so far. Your orders are to recharge until 0800 hours tomorrow. Thank you again, and until 0900, you are dismissed, soldier." he said.

"Yes Sir!" I said, climbing into the nearest recharging unit. Leader Prime turned to Bumblebee.

"Bumblebee, warn Hound, Prowl and Jazz that Autobot Rian is with us, and that they are not to scare her more than she already has been. Tell them that she has promised to keep the race going but on her own terms. Tell them she is not to be pestered or coerced in any way."

"Yes Sir, although I don't think that Prowl and Jazz will need too much warning. They are more-_occupied_-with each other." Bumblebee actually sounded a bit embarrassed.

"Yes, I understand. "said Leader Prime, not sounding at all embarrassed _or_ surprised. "Well, warn them anyway. I am sure they will, if required, play their part in the survival of or kind, but as with Rian, the choice to do so or otherwise is theirs, and we must respect that."

Bumblebee nodded as he pushed down the Perspex lid of the recharge unit I had climbed into, and as the recharge began, I surrendered completely to it.

Tomorrow, I would have to face the Sparkling issue again, but I was sure that when fully recharged, and knowing that I was in control of the situation, I would be able to work something out.

However, that was another day entirely.


	2. Chapter 2

The New Arrival

Chapter Two

A/N: user Draw4Life noted that Rian should have met Ratchet again. She is right, as my on-off Ratchet-muse pointed out two weeks ago, for Ratchet would want to check her over. This chapter is dedicated to Draw4Life.

"Rian."

The voice was gentle, but insistent.

"Rian. Your recharge is finished. I need to talk to you and check you over."

I yawned and stretched, although when I say 'stretched' it doesn't quite put across what sort of process this involves-a full-body stretch designed to unlock stiff joints and pull cables and wires straight, a process first involving stretching the body from neck to foot joints, then a limb-by-limb stretch. A full-on stretch can take up to two minutes to complete.

I took that time, and then unshuttered my optics, to find that Ratchet was standing by the recharge chamber, having watched and enjoyed the sight of a good stretch. As a medic, he understood the importance of the action, was obviously glad that I was still keeping up basic low maintenance exercises such as this, and enjoying the sight of seeing a femme stretching, something he probably hadn't seen for who knew how many millennia?

Ratchet lifted the chamber canopy and I sat up, swinging my legs to dangle over the edge of the recharge chamber. Ratchet offered his arm for me to support myself on, as I slid down the side of the unit. As the brief dizziness and disorientation that was an unavoidable side-effect of recharge swept over me, I was glad of the support of the medic's strong and steady arm. Then the disorientation passed, and I relaxed, releasing his arm and nodding my thanks.

He nodded back, then dropped his head, allowing his gaze to run up me from feet to head. He wasn't just having a good look, I realised, for I had seen Ratchet do this before, back before we got separated. He was now in full medic-mode, and running a mid-level diagnostic scan.

"Rian, you have just less than an hour before you need to report to Optimus for debriefing. I can do a little repair on your communications systems and check on your navigational systems, which also show evidence if damage, in half that time. Come on, I'll repair what needs repairing, and check a few other things while I do so." He took my arm, leading me through to the main medbay area.

Ratchet repaired my communications and navigation equipment, and pronounced me fit for duty, my self-repair having already taken care of any other damage that might have occurred. After that, there was fifteen minutes left, so Ratchet used it to show me around his medical bay, donated by this continent's governing body, and proudly showed me all its facilities. By the time he had done that, it was almost 0900, and I had to go to attend my debriefing session.

Ratchet took me to the medbay door, and pointed across and down where the door to Leader Prime's office was. I bid Ratchet farewell, walked over, and knocked on the door. A millisecond later, I was invited in via databurst.

Leader Prime was stood by an energon dispenser, filling two mugs, and as I stood before a big stone-topped desk that Leader Prime had in front of a chair of his size, I idly wondered where he had got the energon.

Leader Prime put the two mugs on the desk, pushing one over to me, and said "Take a 'seat.' It is a human comfort that we have adopted as it saves wear and rear on the legs, and puts everyone on a level with each other. Take a mug and I will tell you what has been going on." I nodded and pulled over a chair suited to my height and build.

He himself sat, and I found we were indeed not far off optic-to-optic level. I did not have to look up much, nor he down, to speak. He asked me to first report on my journey, and how much Decepticon activity I had noted.

My journey had been uneventful, as I told him, and I had managed to avoid being caught up in any skirmishes, which was just as well, because as small and alone as I had been, I would have been at a disadvantage. Then I detailed my arrival at the solar system, and how I had managed to avoid the gravitational pull of the gas giants by entering away from them, and how I had been concerned about the small red planet, then detailed how the asteroids between the fifth and fourth planet had wreaked havoc on my systems. I then explained how my navigations had been knocked awry, resulting in my arrival at the base four days later than anticipated.

Then Leader Prime filled me in about the Decepticon attempts to hack into the military data systems of the country we were in, called the United States of America, how the second attack had been successful, how the Decepticons had used the knowledge to locate and free their long-missing leader Megatron, (who had been captured and kept frozen by some of the humans) and how it had all culminated in the big battle in Mission City that had resulted in the destruction of four of the eight Decepticons in the country, including Megatron, and had also, regrettably, ended with the destruction of the AllSpark.

The other four had been classed as "missing, presumed hiding", for Starscream had been seen rushing off, one called Barricade, (who had attacked a human who unknowingly had possessed artefacts containing the co-ordinates of the AllSpark), was unaccounted for, a Decepticon called Scorponok was assumed to still be where he had last been sighted, and although a body had been recovered of a hacker called Frenzy, it turned out that this body was one of two, for the AllSpark had regenerated Frenzy's body, and that body, with much of his head still attached, was unaccounted for.

"Starscream has recently returned, with several others, including Soundwave, whom we must assume has his Cassetticons with him, Dropkick and Dead End, who are both fearsome warriors, the torturer, Swindle, and Payload, who is often silent, but must not be underestimated for he can dish out violence with deadly force." Leader Prime told me. "These arrived at the same time as our other five Autobot new arrivals who turned up less than two weeks before you did. They are Cliffjumper, Mirage, Prowl, Bluestreak and Hound. Cliffjumper and Mirage you met yesterday, with Ironhide, my weapons specialist. The other three you will probably meet today-hopefully under better circumstances."

Leader Prime filled me in on many details that had not been available on the Internet, which answered most of my questions, and then he answered a couple more I had.

"I am hoping to keep the mechs occupied with finding acceptable ways of approaching and talking to you in a manner that does not make you feel threatened or obligated." he told me. "I have advised them to both remember and access knowledge on Cybertronian courtship, and look up human courtship rituals. From this I have asked them to work out a system by which you can, as you stated you would, carry out your duty, as you see it, to our race, without any pressure being put on you." He took a mouthful of his energon, and leaned back.

"I have reiterated that whatever system or systems they propose must give you the maximum say, and must first be reviewed by you and given your approval before being implemented. I have also made it clear that you are not to be pressurised, intimidated, harassed, hounded, or otherwise coerced into anything you are not happy with. I have also told them that there is no rush to submit ideas, as we are not in imminent danger of extinction. You are to be given the time to adjust to the situation, and your new status - and I use the word 'status' in a respectful sense - amongst the mechs here." Leader Prime leaned forwards again, relaxing slightly.

"This base has been adapted for our use, and some of the rooms have door locks that will respond to our individual vocal patterns. One of these room has had been readied for you, the only people whose voices it will respond to will be yours and Ratchet's, and Ratchet's is only for medical or other emergencies when he might need to gain entry. An energon dispenser a computer terminal, and a large rest pallet, that you can have for your individual use but will take two if you have a guest overnight, have been installed. If you begin to accumulate possessions, shelves and storage can be made available. I hope that this provision is enough to reassure you. We do still have our beliefs in freedom, and yours is as important as anyone else's. If you are ready, I can show you it."

"I would like to see it." I told him. Leader Prime rose, and indicated I should follow him.

He showed me the room, which was as he had described it, and aided me in keying the door lock to my vocal print.

"I have nothing else pressing for the next half-hour, so perhaps I can show you the rest and recreation room, usually just shortened to 'R&R.' You should meet the others, and hopefully my presence will discourage any overenthusiastic response to your presence, although they _have _all been warned."

He showed me the way to this 'R&R room', and then pushed the door open, guiding me in with a gentle hand on my shoulder and then moving to stand beside me.

It was Jazz I spotted first, standing at a green table, holding a piece of organic plant matter called 'wood' in his hand. The table had several red and yellow spherical objects on it, plus one white sphere and one black sphere. Holding a similar piece of wood was a black-and-white mech I didn't know. As I watched, he used his piece of wood to hit the white ball, which hit one of the red balls, which rolled across the table to go in a hole in the corner.

Looking around, I saw a green mech I didn't know talking animatedly with Mirage and Cliffjumper, two of the three I had met the day before. A grey and red mech was involved in throwing thin, metal, sharp-pointed unpowered projectiles from his hand at a picture of Starscream that was pinned to a thick board on the wall. The picture was already pocked with dozens of holes: the mech had obviously done this for some time before we got there.

It was this mech who spotted me first, and he was sufficiently distracted by me to send the metal projectile not on it's planned course towards the picture of Starscream, but towards the three mechs having a discussion. Mirage happened to look up, saw it coming, and yelled "DUCK!"

The three did, and the projectile's sharp tip embedded itself in the wall behind Mirage. Mirage looked at it, then back to the mech who was still staring at me.

"Bluestreak, throw the darts at Starscream, not at us, if you don't mind-oh-er, hi Leader Prime, hi Rian."

Mirage had just spotted Leader Prime and I.

"Rian and I thought to join you." Leader Prime said, as every optic in the room turned our way.

"Oh, hi Leader Prime. Glad you made it, Rian, hi." Jazz said, waving my way. He was the first to move, heading for the energon dispenser in the corner.

"Hi Optimus, hi pretty femme, what's your designation?" asked the black-and-white mech, who moved to follow Jazz, who was now filling three similar-sized mugs. "My designation is Prowl." the black and white mech said.

Jazz left one filled mug on the side, and picked up the other two and headed our way. Prowl picked up a much larger mug and began filling it.

Jazz handed me one of the mugs.

"I'm Rian." I said, answering Prowl's question, but pitching it so every audio processor in the room would hear it. "Thank you." I said to Jazz. Prowl finished filling the big mug, and carefully bore it over to Leader Prime, who thanked him both by voice and with a nod. Prowl returned for the mug that Jazz had left on the side for him, returned to stand to one side of me, and looked me up and down.

By now the green mech who had been talking to Mirage and Cliffjumper had got up and walked over. He stopped before me, picked up my free hand in both of his, and before I could ask what he was doing, he raised it to his mouth and pressed his lips against the back of it.

"Pleased to meet you, Rian, I'm designated Hound. My specialty is holograms, and I have a special interest in this planet's dominant species, humans. That 'kissing of the hand' is a now sadly outdated way whereby some male-that's 'mech'- humans would greet a femme human. It was seen as polite. A more modern way for a male to show his appreciation for an attractive femme used to be this." He held out his arms, and a holographic and very colourful display of botanical specimens appeared, and he pushed them into my free arm. They looked and felt realistic, with cold and pliable surfaces of all different bright colours.

"These are called 'flowers'." Hound told me. "I'll get you some real ones later, but for now, scan and save the hologram as a gift." I did so, and a few seconds later the hologram flickered out. "I'm sorry I couldn't maintain it much longer, but powering such a detailed hologram uses a lot of energy, and I'm due for a recharge in a couple of hours." he said.

"Show-off!" Jazz said good-naturedly.

"Thank you, Hound." I said, a little overwhelmed, because I was so unused to this level of attention.

"Let her sit down and drink her energon." said Mirage, sitting down himself, and moving a hand invitingly to indicate the empty seat next to him.

"This from one of the three who scared her so bad yesterday that half the base heard the commotion." said Jazz, but not unkindly: taking it in the spirit it as meant, Mirage had the good grace to look abashed, but otherwise ignored him.

Smiling, I sat down. Cliffjumper immediately took the seat the other side of me: Hound pulled a face, which Cliffjumper promptly pulled back at him.

"Where do you get the energon?" I asked.

"We all do work for humans to earn money. We all contribute a tenth of what we get towards buying fuel, and Ratchet has some interesting medical technology that he can use to convert it to energon." Mirage said. "Ratchet's a skilled brewer. He said he'd rather use medical equipment for non-medical purposes, and make the energon himself, so he can test it to be sure it's safe rather than leave it to someone who may not know what they're doing. There are several ways to brew energon to make it inferior and dangerous to the systems. Ratchet says that if _he_ makes it, that way he doesn't need to treat the consequences of inept brewing. Don't worry about paying for anything yet: you've only just arrived, you're a guest."

I was suddenly distracted as something leaned against my arm. Looking over, I saw it was Cliffjumper. He was leaning against me, head on my shoulder, optics shuttered, and with a blissful smile on his face as one hand moved up to clasp my upper arm.

"Cliffjumper!" said Leader Prime sharply, who had also noticed. Cliffjumper jerked upright, looking guilty.

"Sorry!" he said.

I laughed and shook my head.

"No, that's okay, I don't mind being leaned on and my arms being touched, I feel safer now and this is a different situation." I said. I put down my energon and pulled Cliffjumper back down onto my shoulder, where he resumed his relaxed posture and smile. A similar pressure on my other shoulder told me that Mirage had decided that if Cliffjumper could, so could he, which suited me fine. The contact, as I had told Leader Prime, did not feel threatening, and in fact reminded me of the huddles I and friends of a similar age had sat in as children.

Pressure against my legs made me look down: Hound had sat in front of me and was leaning back on my legs. I laughed: Hound had found a way to sit near me after all.

Leader Prime nodded.

"You seem okay now, Rian. I must return to my office. Prowl will help if anything becomes too intense for you, just call his name if you need to." He smiled, put down his now-empty mug, and quietly left.

"Rian, we've been thinking." murmured Mirage from one side of me. "This system that Prime wants, well, dating is something humans and Cybertronians have in common, we've done some research. How about we have a date system here? We suggest things that we can do for first dates, which is just getting to know each other, we could even hold a first date, say, here, in a social situation, so you're not alone and wouldn't feel awkward or pressured." he said.

"How often would I be expected to hold these 'dates.'" I said.

"As soon as possible?" Cliffjumper asked dreamily.

"_No_, Cliffjumper, shut up." Mirage said, good naturedly but meaning it. "It would be whenever _Rian_ felt ready." He opened his optics, and looked earnestly at me.

"If we took on this system, you could call a first date whenever you felt like it. You could hold it tomorrow, or in a couple of millennia's time, whatever felt right for _you_, Rian." Mirage said. "I'd suggest that first dates would go at _your_ pace-may I suggest no Spark-sex on the first date being a given, so nobody expects it. That gives you the scope to go as far as you might want to without worrying that they'll expect more. After all, everyone likes to be caressed, but you should have the opportunity to be kissed and, or, caressed, just for pleasure and relaxation, whilst knowing the mech won't be expecting more than that."

"That sounds like a good idea. Carry on." I told him.

"Well, the only time Spark-sex would be allowed would be on second date-or third, or fourth, or however long it took you to feel that you'd be happy with that." Mirage said. "Spark-sex would only happen as long as both participants felt happy with it, and preferably, with agreement from both parties beforehand-although if at any stage _either_ participant decides they don't want to after all, that would be respected. You _do_ sometimes get shy mechs, you know."

"Yes, I know." I said, trying _not_ to be distracted from Mirage's ideas by Hound's stroking of my upper foot surfaces with the tip of a finger, and Cliffjumper snuggling his face against my arm. Mirage must have noticed my distraction, for he sat up and said "Well, we don't have to agree to any system or suggestion right away. Think about it, and let us know."

"Okay." I said.

"Hey, Rian, come over here!" Jazz said, beckoning me over with an arm. "Prowl and I will show you how to play pool!" As both Cliffjumper and Hound reluctantly allowed me to rise and move over, I smiled at Jazz, and his adroit 'rescue' of me, without Prowl having to say anything directly to any of my trio of admirers.

Prowl handed me the wooden implement.

"First things first. This is called a 'cue'" Prowl told me, and then proceeded to explain what everything was, and with Jazz's help, proceeded to teach me how to play…


End file.
